Scottish Executive

Care of Elderly People

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what support is being given to assist in the setting up, and expansion of, direct payment services for disabled people.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Executive has set up Direct Payments Scotland (DPS) to work closely with local authorities and local support organisations to help them set up direct payment schemes in their areas. This work involves increasing local awareness of direct payments and providing support and information as well as identifying and addressing local training needs.

  The DPS project has now been extended until March 2006 with £285,000 and £210,000 allocated in 2003-04 and 2004-05 respectively and a provisional grant of £150,000 for 2005-06.

Care of Elderly People

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33420 by Mr Frank McAveety on 29 January 2003, what action will be taken in respect of individual local authorities that do not achieve the targets set in local joint action plans to reduce delayed discharge and, in particular, what action will be taken where levels of delayed discharge are rising.

Mr Frank McAveety: All local authority and NHS Partnerships are implementing their Local Joint Action Plans to reach their targeted reductions by 15 April, the final measuring point for 2002-03. Any failure to meet these targets will be reviewed with the partnership concerned before any decisions are made on actions, including the need to introduce support teams. Funding and targets have been provided to partnerships, not to individual local authorities or NHS boards, and we expect partnerships to take responsibility for them. We expect all partnerships to continue to make every effort to meet their performance targets.

Carers

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is consulting with carers and carers’ organisations at (a) local and (b) national level to develop new ways of informing carers of their rights and support services.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to allocate resources to income maximisation services targeted at carers.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to oversee the development of appropriate, accessible and age-appropriate information and support activities for children and young people with caring responsibilities.

Mr Frank McAveety: Since the introduction of our Carers Strategy we have worked closely with carers’ organisations at a national level to ensure that carers of all ages have access to appropriate information on their rights and about support, including financial support. From April 2000, the NHS Helpline has contained such information and this is now being made available through NHS 24. We have worked with carers’ organisations on national publicity campaigns to help raise carer awareness and to alert carers to sources of support and advice. Carers’ organisations have also been involved in helping us to make young carer information packs available in schools throughout Scotland.

  Provision of appropriate information and services at a local level is the responsibility of local authorities and NHS trusts. The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 sets out requirements on local authorities and the NHS in relation to information strategies and informing carers of their rights. We will be working with the statutory sector and carers’ organisations in developing these strategies.

Central Heating

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of time has been between receipt of an application and completion of installation under its Central Heating Installation Programme in Dundee.

Des McNulty: Eaga say that the average waiting time is currently nine months.

Child Care

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent by (a) it and (b) the New Opportunities Fund on creating out-of-school club places and how many places have been created since July 1999, broken down by financial year.

Cathy Jamieson: Scottish Executive Childcare Strategy funding is provided to local authorities to meet local child care needs including out-of-school care.

  Funding has been allocated as follows:

  Financial year 1999-2000: £5.75 million

  2000-01: £13.75 million

  2001-02: £15.75 million

  Current year 2002-03: £16.75 million

  We do not hold centrally information on how much of this funding has been spent by local authorities on out-of-school care, or on how many places have been created.

  The New Opportunities Fund (NOF) provides funding for the creation and expansion of out-of-school clubs through the Out-of-School Hours Childcare Programme. Since 1999, the programme has to date allocated over £15 million and created over 32,000 child care places.

Child Care

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what budget (a) it and (b) the New Opportunities Fund has set for (i) creating and (ii) sustaining places in out-of-school clubs for each year from 2003-04 to 2005-06 and how many places will be created.

Cathy Jamieson: Scottish Executive Childcare Strategy funding is provided to local authorities to meet local child care needs, including out-of-school care. Allocations for the years 2003-06 are as follows:

  Financial year 2003-04: £19.25 million

  2004-05: £29.75 million

  2005-06: £40.65 million

  It is for the local authorities, with their Childcare Partnerships, to determine how these funds will be used to create and sustain child care provision, including out of school care.

  The New Opportunity Fund (NOF) Out-of-School Hours Childcare Programme has been extended until June 2003. £10.25 million is still available under the current programme for the creation of new child care places. Approximately £6 million is also available to provide extended two- or three-year funding to help sustain places.

  In addition, the NOF has made available a further £14.5 million under a new programme, New Opportunities for Quality Childcare, which could include out of school provision. The programme will run until June 2005.

Crime

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any discussions regarding setting up third-party reporting sites in respect of (a) racist offences, (b) sexual assaults and (c) domestic violence.

Mr Jim Wallace: Arrangements for third party reporting are a matter for the police in consultation with local authorities, community organisations and other relevant agencies.

Drug Misuse

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29870 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 October 2002, what sentences for drug-dealing offences were given by the courts in 2001.

Hugh Henry: The available information is given in the table.

  Persons with a Charge Proved for Drug-Dealing Offences1, by Type of Sentence, 2001

  


Sentence 
  

2001 
  



Number 
  



Total  
  

1,314 
  



Custody 
  
 



 up to 6 months 
  

230 
  



 >6 months to 2 years 
  

243 
  



 >2 years up to 4 years 
  

93 
  



 4 years and over 
  

131 
  



Total 
  

697 
  



Probation2


162 
  



Community service 
  

214 
  



Monetary penalty 
  

195 
  



Other sentence 
  

46 
  



Percentage 
  



Custody 
  
 



 up to 6 months 
  

18 
  



 >6 months to 2 years 
  

18 
  



 >2 years up to 4 years 
  

7 
  



 4 years and over 
  

10 
  



Total 
  

53 
  



Probation2


12 
  



Community service 
  

16 
  



Monetary penalty 
  

15 
  



Other sentence 
  

4 
  



  Notes:

  1. Where main offence includes illegal importation, production and supply of drugs, and money laundering and other related offences.

  2. Includes restriction of liberty orders and drug treatment and testing orders.

Education

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the number of fee-paying and grant-aided primary and secondary schools that provide education in line with current national advice on (a) drugs, (b) safe use of medicines, (c) alcohol and (d) tobacco.

Nicol Stephen: National guidance on health education, including drug education, has been issued to all independent and grant-aided schools. This guidance offers a framework within which drug education programmes should be developed. In addition, these schools are included in the Executive’s annual survey of drug education in which we publish statistics about the numbers of schools that provide education on each of these topics.

Education

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in each local authority area have been affected by weather-related school closures since 1 October 2002.

Nicol Stephen: This information is not held centrally.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether exam passes by school pupils taught in college-school partnerships will, in published statistical tables, be credited to the school involved.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive does not currently credit a school with the attainment of pupils presented by another establishment. A working group, involving the Scottish Executive and the SQA, has recently been set up to look into improving ways of recording the attainment of pupils taught in partnership arrangements.

Education

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards the aim of HM Inspectorate of Education of a "generational cycle" of school inspections, whereby every parent can expect both a primary and a secondary school report as their child moves through school education.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Graham Donaldson, Chief Executive of HM Inspectorate of Education, to respond. His response is as follows:

  We are aiming to complete the delivery of the first generational cycle by 2008 for secondary schools and 2009 for primary schools. In 2002, we inspected 370 primary schools (223 initial inspections and 147 follow-up inspections) and 97 secondary schools (36 initial inspections and 61 follow-up inspections).

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre a copy of the Sea Fish Industry Authority preliminary study carried out by Dr M.A. James, Dr B.R. Howell and Professor J.A. Young of Fisheries Resources Management Ltd; whether the authority has made the employees at the Ardtoe Marine Farming Unit aware of the full text of the report and, if not, whether it will make representations to the authority to do so in view of the possible redundancies at the unit.

Ross Finnie: No. The report on the study commissioned by the Sea Fish Industry Authority is commercial-in-confidence. The publication or otherwise is very much a matter for the authority.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all parents will be given information relating to mercury levels, side effects, potential long-term effects and efficacy of the diphtheria, pertussis and whooping cough childhood vaccines to ensure that an informed choice can be made.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Deputy Chief Medical Officer wrote to health professionals in NHS Scotland on 14 January 2003 to confirm that parents are entitled to know if thiomersal is contained in the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine available to them, the reasons for this, and the facts about safety and efficacy. The letter also provided various research references to help discuss these matters with patients.

  The Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) has placed on its website - www.show.scot.nhs.uk/scieh/ - its review of evidence relating to toxicity of ethyl mercury relating to vaccination.

  Latest advice from both the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines and the World Health Organisation’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety makes clear that there is no evidence of toxicity in infants, children or adults exposed to thiomersal (containing ethyl mercury) in vaccines. The committees advise that there is no reason on grounds of safety to change current immunisation practices with thiomersal-containing vaccines. The risk of death and complications from vaccine-preventable diseases is real, compared with the theoretical risk from side effects of thiomersal.

  The vaccine protects against three life-threatening diseases. Benefits of protection far outweigh any risks due to known side-effects and hypersensitivity.

Health

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) surgical and (b) medical beds the Inverclyde Royal Hospital (IRH) had available in each of the last six months.

Malcolm Chisholm: The following table covers the most up to date information held centrally:

  Average Available Staffed Beds; Inverclyde Royal Hospital; Acute Surgical and Medical Specialties1: Months Ending August 2002 to January 20032 

  


 


August 
  

September 
  

October 
  

November 
  

December 
  

January 
  



Acute Surgical 
  

144 
  

140 
  

137 
  

139 
  

151 
  

133 
  



General Surgery 
  

70 
  

69 
  

69 
  

68 
  

68 
  

63 
  



Gynaecology 
  

11 
  

11 
  

11 
  

10 
  

13 
  

10 
  



Ophthalmology 
  

9 
  

9 
  

9 
  

8 
  

12 
  

9 
  



Orthopaedics 
  

46 
  

43 
  

41 
  

45 
  

48 
  

43 
  



Urology 
  

9 
  

9 
  

7 
  

8 
  

10 
  

8 
  



Acute Medical 
  

164 
  

167 
  

172 
  

169 
  

169 
  

186 
  



Dermatology 
  

4 
  

3 
  

4 
  

4 
  

4 
  

3 
  



General Medicine 
  

121 
  

124 
  

130 
  

127 
  

123 
  

136 
  



Haematology 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  



Med. Paediatrics 
  

19 
  

19 
  

19 
  

19 
  

19 
  

19 
  



Rehab. Medicine 
  

19 
  

19 
  

18 
  

18 
  

21 
  

26 
  



  Source: ISD Scotland [ISD(S)1].

  Notes:

  1. Excludes specialties general psychiatry, geriatric medicine, obstetrics and unspecified at IRH.

  2. Information from August 2002 to January 2003 is provisional.

Health

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to reallocate surgical beds as medical beds in the Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is an operational matter, best addressed by Argyll and Clyde NHS Board.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate and safe for botox injections to be administered by a non-medical person in a non-medical setting.

Malcolm Chisholm: Prescription Only Medicines (POMs), like Botox, are on the whole prescribed for individuals by a medical practitioner to be administered by the individual or to that individual by a third party who might be a nurse, carer, relative or other "lay" person. In the latter case, the doctor must be content that the third party is competent to fulfil this role.

  Botox is licensed for use in the UK for certain purposes, although not for cosmetic purposes. It is, however, not uncommon for drugs licensed in the UK, to be used outwith their market authorisation i.e. licensed uses. In such instances, however, the doctor providing or prescribing the medicine bears a greater degree of medico-legal responsibility for such action.

Hepatitis

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether blood products are being tested for hepatitis G.

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether blood transfusion products are not being tested for hepatitis G and what the reasons are for the position on the matter.

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether recipients of any blood products that have been exposed to hepatitis G are informed.

Mr Frank McAveety: The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service does not screen blood donations for this virus because it is unaware of any evidence that it causes any illness in humans.

Justice

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any minister or official will attend the Working Party on Cooperation in Criminal Matters in Brussels on 4 March 2003 which is discussing implementation of the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant under each member state’s law and, if so, what issues will be raised.

Mr Jim Wallace: No minister or official attended the meeting. Scottish Executive ministers and officials do attend working group and European Council meetings as necessary as part of our regular engagement with the European Union. However, on this occasion, as explained in the answer given to question S1W-32291 on 16 December 2002, the subject matter of the framework decision is reserved and its implementation is a matter entirely for the UK Government. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search

  Any issues of concern arising from the implementation in Scotland of the framework decision would be raised by the Executive with the UK Government. It would be for the UK Government to decide whether or not any such issue merited discussion at the working party meeting. No such issues were, however, brought to the attention of the UK Government.

Livestock

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many confirmed incidents of bovine tuberculosis have been identified in each local authority area in each quarter in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002.

Ross Finnie: The information requested is shown in the following table.

  Confirmed Incidents of Bovine Tuberculosis 2000-02 (By Quarter)

  2000

  


Local Authority Area 
  

1st Quarter 
  

2nd Quarter 
  

3rd Quarter 
  

4th Quarter 
  

Total 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

1 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  
 



South Ayrshire 
  
 

1 
  
 

- 
  
 



Total 
  

1 
  

2 
  

1 
  

- 
  

4 
  



  2001

  


Local Authority Area 
  

1st Quarter 
  

2nd Quarter 
  

3rd Quarter 
  

4th Quarter 
  

Total 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  
 



East Lothian 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  
 



Total 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

2 
  



  2002

  


Local Authority Area 
  

1st Quarter 
  

2nd Quarter 
  

3rd Quarter 
  

4th Quarter 
  

Total 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

4 
  
 



Argyll and Bute 
  

5 
  

1 
  

- 
  

3 
  
 



Dumfries and Galloway 
  
 

5 
  

- 
  

1 
  
 



East Lothian 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  
 



Fife 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  
 



Highland 
  

- 
  

1 
  

- 
  

1 
  
 



Moray 
  

- 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  
 



Perth and Kinross 
  

- 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  
 



Total 
  

6 
  

8 
  

1 
  

11 
  

26

Livestock

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many farms have restocked with cattle after the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak and how many took its advice to isolate any bought cattle and to consider private bovine tuberculosis testing for such cattle.

Ross Finnie: Information on the number of farms that have restocked with cattle is not held centrally. It is not known how many farms have taken the advice contained in the leaflet issued by my department to all Scottish cattle farmers in 2001 to isolate bought-in cattle and to consider private testing for bovine tuberculosis.

Local Government

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to encourage local authorities to introduce a code of conduct for council officers to complement the Councillor’s Code of Conduct, following the recommendation for such a code in the Accounts Commission’s Overview of the 2001/02 local authority audits .

Peter Peacock: I understand that all local authorities already have a code of conduct for council officers in place.

NHS Waiting Lists

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many elderly people in each NHS trust are on the waiting list for a placement in a care home.

Mr Frank McAveety: Information on the total number of patients aged over 65 in NHS hospitals awaiting placement in a care home is shown in table 1. The figures relate to 15 October 2002, the latest date for which information is centrally available.

  Table 1: Patients Ready for Discharge - Numbers Waiting for a Care Home Placement1 Aged 65+, by NHS Trust, as at 15 October 2002

  


NHS Trust 
  

Number of Patients Ready 
  for Discharge Waiting for a Care Home Placement Aged 65+ 
  



Scotland 
  

1,346 
  



Argyll and Clyde 
  



Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

23 
  



Lomond and Argyll Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

27 
  



Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Primary Care 
  NHS Trust 
  

142 
  



Ayrshire and Arran 
  



Ayrshire and Arran Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

28 
  



Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

63 
  



Ayrshire and Arran (other) 
  

20 
  



Borders 
  



Borders General Hospital NHS Trust 
  

- 
  



Borders Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

30 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  



Dumfries and Galloway Health Board 
  

- 
  



Dumfries and Galloway Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

5 
  



Fife 
  



Fife Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

14 
  



Fife Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

74 
  



Forth Valley 
  



Forth Valley Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

7 
  



Forth Valley Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

48 
  



Grampian 
  



Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

31 
  



Grampian Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

168 
  



Greater Glasgow 
  



South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

58 
  



North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

122 
  



Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

21 
  



Highland 
  



Highland Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

22 
  



Highland Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

23 
  



Lanarkshire 
  



Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

15 
  



Lanarkshire Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

52 
  



Lanarkshire (other) 
  

4 
  



Lothian 
  



Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

57 
  



Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

133 
  



West Lothian Health care NHS Trust 
  

9 
  



Orkney 
  



Orkney Health Board Unit 
  

10 
  



Tayside 
  



Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust 
  

22 
  



Tayside Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

95 
  



Western Isles 
  



Western Isles Health Unit 
  

23 
  



  Note:

  1. Number of patients ready for discharge where the principal reason was either:

  - In the categories non-availability of public funding to purchase Residential/Nursing Home Place.

  Or principal reason was awaiting place availability (no additional detail),

  - awaiting place availability in local authority residential home,

  - awaiting place availability in independent residential home,

  - awaiting place availability in nursing home (not NHS funded),

  - awaiting completion of social care arrangements in local authority residential home placement,

  - awaiting completion of social care arrangements in independent residential home placement,

  - awaiting completion of social care arrangements in nursing home placement (not NHS funded),

  - patient exercising statutory right of choice with one of the above principal reasons as the secondary reason.

  Principal reasons excluded are:

  - awaiting completion of social care arrangements (no additional detail),

  - patient/carer/family-related reasons - Other (no additional detail).

  Figures given are day one census figures

  The term "other" refers to beds in non-NHS facilities contracted for NHS use.

Pensioners

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many pensioners lived below the poverty line as defined by 60% of median household income in (a) 1979, (b) 1987 and (c) each year since 1992.

Des McNulty: Estimates of the number of pensioners living in income poverty are available for Scotland on an annual basis since 1994-95.

  Figures for each year since 1994-95 to 2000-01 are given in tables 19d and 19f of the technical Annex (Indicators of Progress) of the Scottish Executive’s 2002 Social Justice Annual Report. The tables show the estimated number (and proportion) of pensioners living in households with income below 60% of the GB median income, when income is taken both before and after housing costs. Table 19d presents figures based on the relative measure – households with income below 60% of the GB median in that year; table 19f presents figures based on the absolute measure – households with income below 60% of the GB median income in 1996-97.

  A copy of the report is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 25289).

Police

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether police officers policing the Edinburgh area receive any additional payments.

Mr Jim Wallace: Pay and conditions of service for police officers serving with Lothian and Borders Police are the same as for officers in other Scottish forces. From 1 April a minority of posts in each force will be designated for special priority payments. Designation of these posts, which will be a matter for police authorities and chief constables, will be on the basis of their particular levels of responsibility, demanding conditions or retention problems, but not directly on their location.

Prescription Charges

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people suffer from Wegener's Granulomatosis; what the prescribed medication is for the illness; how many sufferers have to pay for their medication, and why some sufferers are receiving the necessary medication free.

Malcolm Chisholm: We are currently aware of about 20 people in Scotland who suffer from Wegener's Granulomatosis. Treatment is usually by steroids and cyclophosphamide but the drugs used are not specific treatments for Wegener's Granulomatosis.

  Details of the number of sufferers who have to pay for their medication are not held centrally. People with chronic illnesses who are not exempt from prescription charges often qualify for free prescriptions on other grounds, and priority is given to helping people who have difficulty in paying for their prescription charges.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to improve procedures for suicide prevention at HM Prison Kilmarnock following reports in The Scotsman on 16 December 2002 that paperwork was not properly completed and on 20 December 2002 that up to 90% of half-hourly suicide watches are routinely missed.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  I understand that the director has conducted an investigation to ascertain whether there are changes which require to be made ahead of any determination which may be produced by the current Fatal Accident Inquiry.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the key performance indicator shown on page nine of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) Annual Report and Accounts 2001-02 in respect of the average annual cost per prisoner place is for uncrowded prisoner places and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) on cost per prisoner place, set out in the SPS Annual Report and Accounts 2001-02 , is based on "design capacity" and not on the actual number of prisoners.

  The KPI measure is computed in this way to avoid the problems that fluctuations in population numbers would create and to provide a consistent base to measure performance over time.

  This indicator has been used since the SPS was established as an executive agency in 1993.

Rape

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) rapes and (b) assaults with intent to rape were prosecuted in each year since 1997, broken down by police force and procurator fiscal area.

Mrs Elish Angiolini: The available information on persons proceeded against where rape or assault with intent to rape was the main offence is given in the table, which is extracted from the Scottish Executive Justice Department’s court proceedings database. Information by procurator fiscal area is not available.

  Persons Proceeded Against Where the Main Charge Was Rape or Assault With Intent to Rape by Police Force Area, 1997-2001

  


Main Offence 
  

Police Force Area 
  

Year of Sentence 
  



1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  



Rape 
  

Scotland 
  

65 
  

66 
  

56 
  

50 
  

61 
  



Central 
  

2 
  

4 
  

7 
  

6 
  

1 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

2 
  

- 
  

2 
  

2 
  

2 
  



Fife 
  

3 
  

16 
  

6 
  

- 
  

9 
  



Grampian 
  

3 
  

7 
  

8 
  

2 
  

3 
  



Lothian and Borders 
  

15 
  

13 
  

18 
  

14 
  

10 
  



Northern 
  

2 
  

3 
  

1 
  

2 
  

3 
  



Strathclyde 
  

30 
  

19 
  

12 
  

21 
  

23 
  



Tayside 
  

8 
  

4 
  

2 
  

3 
  

10 
  



Assault With Intent to Rape 
  

Scotland1


33 
  

37 
  

26 
  

22 
  

28 
  



Central 
  

2 
  

- 
  

3 
  

- 
  

3 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

- 
  

1 
  

1 
  

- 
  

- 
  



Fife 
  

5 
  

3 
  

3 
  

4 
  

5 
  



Grampian 
  

- 
  

3 
  

2 
  

- 
  

- 
  



Lothian and Borders 
  

7 
  

3 
  

4 
  

3 
  

3 
  



Northern 
  

1 
  

4 
  

- 
  

2 
  

- 
  



Strathclyde 
  

13 
  

16 
  

6 
  

11 
  

10 
  



Tayside 
  

5 
  

7 
  

7 
  

2 
  

6 
  



  Note:

  1. Scotland total for 2001 includes one case where force is not known.

  It should be noted that the police record crime by reference to the number of individual crimes reported. Statistics on crimes prosecuted and convictions obtained are recorded by reference to individuals, who might be reported or prosecuted in relation to more than one crime at a time. Where a person is proceeded against for more that one crime or offence, only the "main charge" is recorded for statistical purposes.

  It should be noted that these statistics do not include the crime of attempted rape (for which statistics are not requested).

Schools

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £1 billion to rebuild and refurbish schools was made available to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council.

Nicol Stephen: In June 2002 we offered financial support to 15 local authorities to enable them to take forward school public private partnership (PPP) projects with a total capital investment value of £1.195 billion. Argyll and Bute Council’s share of that figure is £80 million. West Dunbartonshire Council have not submitted a bid for financial support for a school PPP project.

Scottish Enterprise

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what Scottish Enterprise’s criteria are for awarding external consultancy contracts.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Enterprise has spent on internal public relations staff in each year since 1999-2000.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22410 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002, how much Scottish Enterprise has paid to contracted consultants in 2002-03.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22408 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002, how many permanent members of staff were employed by Scottish Enterprise on 1 January 2003.

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22412 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002, how much Scottish Enterprise has spent on contracted public relations services in each year since 1999-2000.

Iain Gray: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise.

Union of the Crowns

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the membership is of the advisory group set up to provide advice to the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport on plans to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Union of the Crowns; what stage the celebration preparations have reached, and how much money will be allocated to celebrate the event.

Mike Watson: The membership of the advisory group includes the Lord Provost of Edinburgh (Chair); Professor Michael Lynch, University of Edinburgh; Andrew Mathieson, Scottish Tourism Forum; Peter Irvine, Unique Events; Graeme Munro, Historic Scotland; Alison Lindsay, National Archives of Scotland; Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland; Pat Watters, Convention of Local Authorities; Eric Miller, Scotland Office; and John Mason, Hamish Blair, Andrew Slorance and Lesley Fraser from the Scottish Executive.

  The advisory group first met on 6 February 2003 to review various proposals to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Union of the Crowns. These proposals are being developed and costed by Historic Scotland, VisitScotland and others, and the budget for them will be finalised once the programme has been announced.